Canada Moving to ‘Urgently’ Revoke Not-for-Profit Status of BC-Based Terror Group Samidoun: Joly

Ottawa is “urgently” exploring options to dissolve the not-for-profit status of Samidoun, a Vancouver-based anti-Israel advocacy group designated as a terrorist organization in Canada, Industry Minister Mélanie Joly says.

“It is completely unacceptable that any organization listed as a terrorist entity by the Government of Canada continues to exist as a federally registered not-for-profit organization,” Joly wrote on X. “I have therefore directed government officials to urgently look at any and all options to formally dissolve Samidoun as well as any and all listed terrorist entities in Canada.”

Samidoun, also known as the Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network, has organized ongoing protests in Canada following the Hamas attacks in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killed approximately 1,200 people. The Canadian government listed Samidoun as a terrorist entity under the Criminal Code last fall.

Public Safety Canada said the designation of Samidoun on Oct. 15, 2024, was done in coordination with the U.S. Department of the Treasury, which on the same day announced the group had been designated a global terrorist.

The Criminal Code prohibits anyone from providing financial services, money or property to Samidoun since its designation as a terror group, but it continues to be listed as an “active” registered not-for-profit in Canada.

Its registration page on the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) website flags it as a terrorist organization and also comes with a government warning to “beware of scams and other suspicious activities.” Samidoun lists its official address as a residence in Vancouver.

Canadian Jewish rights advocacy group B’nai Brith Canada applauded Joly’s statement, saying it has been calling for Samidoun’s not-for-profit corporation to be dissolved for “almost a year.”

“Their continued existence as a corporation has made a mockery of our nation’s efforts to combat terrorism,” the group said in a social media post. “Every day that the corporation exists is a blight on our society. We look forward to the end of this sordid saga and to the implementation of legislative reform that will ensure that Canada never again finds itself in such an odious predicament.”

Macdonald-Laurier Institute Promised Land Project Director Casey Babb also spoke out on the move.

“Terrorist groups like Samidoun have been treating Canada like an ATM for decades, so the move to dissolve them completely is certainly very welcome,” he said on X.

Samidoun did not respond to a request for comment on the announcement. The group previously described its designation as a terrorist organization as an attempt by the federal government to “repress political organizing in support of the Palestinian people’s struggle against genocide, colonialism and occupation.”

Samidoun was founded in 2011 and has long been accused of being associated with the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The Canadian government added PFLP to the list of terrorist entities in 2003.

Samidoun’s actions in Canada garnered increased scrutiny after its activists celebrated the one-year anniversary of the Oct. 7 attack against Israel by gathering at the Vancouver Art Gallery where they could be heard chanting, “Long live Oct. 7,” and “Death to Canada, Death to the United States, and Death to Israel.” Demonstrators were also seen burning the Canadian flag.